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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Recycle Tire Planter - Under $80.00

I saw the same photo on Pinterest that everyone else saw... you know the one with flowers flowing out of some colorful tires. I knew I had to do it! I had five tires in my garage ironically enough, and after searching a friends place I found some smaller cute ones. I laid out the tires in the spot where I had pulled up a long above ground vegetable box. I went to Lowe's and bought some spray paint (actually made two trips, as I forgot the all important pink & orange!).

What had me in a quandary for about a week, was what & how was I going to keep and hold the dirt in the tires without having to use a lot of soil, and just in the off case I might want to move them one day. I knew that something would come to me, but in the mean time I needed to get the painting started!

We played around with the design & color combinations for a few days until we finally come up with what we thought we wanted to do. Still had to come up with a way to hold the dirt in the tires without using a ton of soil. I searched around on Pinterest until I saw a photo on how to make a vertical planter. They used burlap or plastic backing, but I wanted to use something I already had, as I was trying very hard to stay within the recycle, reuse or up-cycle mode & wanted to keep the project as cheap as possible! At this point I had spent $40 bucks on paint! That's when it hit me that I have plenty of bags that hold the duck's corn! They are a plastic burlap bag of sorts, and would be just....Perfect! We gathered all the tools we thought we would need our for the project.

Our morning started with Lemon trying to help us straighten out the burlap bags so we could cut them open. We just laid the bags over the tires and cut enough to cover the holes. My first thought was to just staple the bags on the bottom of the tires and fill then up. After a few minutes of consideration we felt that would be fine for the ones laying on the ground, but the ones on the upper levels we would have to come up with asupportsystem.

We had a few pallets laying around (yes that's another project taking place), so we pulled a few boards off one of the pallets to help with the support of the dirt. I did not want the dirt to lay on the boards, as they would deteriorate & the dirt would fall through from the weight of the soil. So we cut out three boards per tire and stapled the them onto the bag and inverted them into the tires. This way the plastic burlap bag would hold the dirt & protect the wood slates, while the wood slates would help support the dirt in the tires.

Now we needed to drill some more hole in the tires for drainage, and tacked down the plastic bag inside the tire until they could be filled with dirt.

We placed the tires back out onto the ground, when we realized we could not remember what the originalarraignment looked like! We played with the colors again, while looking at the photos I had taken. Pull this one here and pull that one there. That's when we had the thought to turn the smaller pink tire on its side. Hey that looks great, but I think it needs another small tire. I quickly break out the paint can and painted a small blue tire. Once the pink tire was turned on it's side it showed the fence and needed something... something to hide the fence. I started for the garage we found an old temperature dial off the fence that has not worked for over a year, and I had never thrown away. By George it fit perfectly. Grabbed the gorilla glue and 30 minutes later it was ready to go! We commenced in filling in the tires with top soil and then topped it off with the better garden soil. Finishing off with some plants and added some bedding flower seeds for additional flowers to come up...........

Voila!

Supplies Used:

9 - Used Tires

5 - Plastic Burlap Feed Bags

10 - 40 lbs. Bags of Cheap Top Soil @ $1.35 per bag**

1 - 40 lbs. Bag of Garden Soil @ $4.50

7 - Can of Spray Paint @ $4.95 per can

8 - Plants @ $25.00

4 - Plants from the Garden

1 - Pack Seeds @ $1.00

1 - Old Pallet

1 - Hammer

1 - Saw

1 - Staple Gun with 5/18 staples

1 - Drill with 5/18 drill

1 - Scissors

1 - Tube of Gorilla Glue

1- Used Temperature Dial

1 - Pug Helper

Total Project Cost

$78.65

**Instead of field dirt to keep the tires from being so heavy, use empty water bottle to fill in the sides**

This was taken in May, as you can see the Easter Lilies are almost gone. I split a fern and shoved a bunch of bulbs in the top tire.

This shot was taken December 21, 2012. The tires have shown the wear from the Texas heat and have faded. Pink and Orange do not like the sun! The Ferns in the top tire are starting to come in!

FLjewels23....I saw a cool idea the other day about using empty water bottle as a filler for pots so you do not use so much dirt and it helps keep the weigh down. Please add plastic empty water bottle in the side of the tires! This will help with drainage and as I said with the weight, and using less dirt or soil! I am experiencing a small settling issue with my tires. It is nothing that can not be fixed, but the tires are so flippin' heavy that I have to have help leveling them back. Do not be afraid to use all colors on the tires! Good luck and send me a photo once you get your project done!

Cheapest filler ever...AIR! Thanks for the tip. Was initially searching for fillers for tire planters besides dirt and not only did I find what I was looking for, I found a better design. Thanks twice over.

I used regular Valspar from Lowe's. I used the "Gloss" Paint & Primer in one for indoor/outdoor use. I sprayed two coats, but one can of paint did each tire, and I did NOT use primer before hand, although I am sure you could. I saw a tire recently and they used white! I wish I would have done a white tire! Have a great weekend!

Hi! I did not have a problem with paint chipping off my tires. I sprayed them one sunny afternoon & I did not clean them in anyway. I used Lowe's Valspar paint. The only issue I am having now is that the paint is fading from the sun. My plan is next Spring to pull them up, re-level them and re-paint them. I am also going to take half the dirt out and fill them with empty plastic water bottle. I hope that will keep them more level. Good luck!

Hello, I just found your blog and love your tires..... I have been working on painting some tires to stack sorta like yours but I only have a little bit of time every once in a while. I am so glad I found your instructions since I have been wondering how I was going to hold the dirt in the upper tires thank you thank you thank you...I read somewhere here you are in Texas, I am in Texas as well, West Texas actually.

Hi! I am glad you like my tires, thank you! South Texas here! As I have said before...fill your tires with empty water bottles (about 20 collapsed bottles per large tire), this keeps them lighter and you do not use as much dirt!

we were looking for a project for kids to do in the wildlife garden here is Westcliff on Sea in the UK and were toying with the idea of using tires..never thought of painting them though, its excellent. Might just be pinching your idea if you don't mind.Wendy

I love this idea and will be featuring it in an article I'm writing for SheKnows.com. I plan to use a photo from this blog post and will include a photo credit and link back to your site. If you have any questions or would prefer that I not use the image, please contact me. Thanks so much!

I am so glad you posted this step by step. I have wanted to do this since seeing it online but had no idea how to hold the soil in the top tire. I have a small space in front of my town house and I am excited to get it done.

Thanks Kathy! They are still holding up strong other than the fading of the pink & orange paint. The sun is just not kind to those colors. I plan on next February (2015) expanding & adding veggies to the tires. I wanted to this Spring, but the weather just never was cooperative with my schedule!! Good luck and shoot me some pics when you get yours done!

Hi - I want to ask you if I can use the picture of this great tire flower planter in an article? I will of course link directly to your site.I am writing for a danish website for houseowners (www.bolius.dk), and right now I am working on an article about recyceling tires – and I stumpled over your fantastic blog. Thanx :-)

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The only issue I am having now is that the paint is fading from the sun. My plan is next Spring to pull them up, re-level them and re-paint them. I am also going to take half the dirt out and fill them with empty plastic water bottle. I hope that will keep them more level. Car Removals in Brisbane

Lemon & Bean

Lemon

The Bean

About Me

Work with my Sister & her Husband Jack as well as my Mother & Father at our Lighted 9-Hole golf course. We built the place ourselves in 1998-1999, opening in October 1999. This has been the best years of my life getting to work and see my parents everyday. Hard work, maddening work, but fun and fulfilling all at the same time. We have some of the best customers in the world that play with us. I am even more lucky that now my sister & her husband are here to help run the business! Double lucky - double blessed